Month: December 2021

Billie Eilish is now a few days removed from her first time hosting Saturday Night Live and she ended up doing a terrific job. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t nervous before hand, though. In fact, Eilish told Howard Stern yesterday that she “cried every single day of the week” leading up to the show.

She said:

“The week of preparing for SNL is f*cking nuts, dude. It’s literally alien. I cried every single day of the week, no joke at all. […] I did actually love to act when I was a kid, but that’s not my world, so I don’t know what the f*ck I’m doing. I feel like I am terrible, I feel like I suck. The craziest part of the week was on Wednesday, the table read, where everybody reads 60 — I think, maybe 50, 40… a lot — of scripts at a table. […] You do it for like a few hours, however long it takes, and then there’s a 20-minute break in the middle, and then you do the rest. So you do like 20 scripts and then stop for a second and then 20 more, and in the break, I cried and came back. I went to the Green Room, cried, and came back. I was just scared. I just was like, it’s SNL, these amazingly talented actors surrounding a table where, somehow, I’m the main course for this show I didn’t feel qualified for.”

Eilish then spoke about some… biological responses she had to her nerves, saying, “I had a full-body reaction to being anxious about this the whole week. Threw up on a plane coming here, had crazy sh*ts when I got here like you would not believe… you know, the ones where you have to get fully naked on the toilet. […] I’ve had stomachaches all week, I’ve been anxious and nervous, just ’cause it’s not my world and I’m so petrified of people thinking I suck.”

She noted, though, that once she did a dress rehearsal with an audience, her nerves subsided, saying, “As soon as I saw the crowd and felt their joy, it was like I wasn’t nervous. It was relieving, somehow, and I think that that is just my love for performing, and then I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually really incredible, and I don’t have to worry. This is just for fun.’”

Watch the interview clip above.

The Los Angeles Lakers have mostly tread water this season, sitting at 15-13, right in the middle of the crowded Western Conference playoff race in sixth. It isn’t where most anticipated the Lakers to be, but with LeBron James missing time, Anthony Davis not looking anything close to his best, Russell Westbrook struggling early, and a roster around those three that has not provided much help, there isn’t a lot of optimism that things will just turn around without a shakeup.

The problem is, there aren’t a lot of options for roster changes for this Lakers team, as the majority of their players are on minimum salaries and the only two who aren’t with any value are Talen Horton-Tucker (who has struggled of late) and Kendrick Nunn (who has been hurt all year and is yet to play). As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Lakers are taking a long look internally at any possible option that doesn’t involve dealing LeBron or AD, which has brought them to discussions about Westbrook, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

The trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook simply hasn’t blended as well as Lakers figures hoped, and Los Angeles has held internal discussions on trade scenarios for Russell Westbrook, league sources told B/R. But moving Westbrook and the two years, $91 million remaining on his contract does seem unlikely.

This is more an indictment of how this team is constructed than anything, as Westbrook, to his credit, has started to turn the corner of late and seems to be trying to adapt his game to better fit in with the Lakers other two stars. It’s simply a matter of, if there is a major upgrade to be made, the Lakers will have to ship out a big piece, and Westbrook’s the only real option. The problem with that is, Westbrook’s value compared to his contract will make it difficult to deal him, as Fischer notes, and few teams will value Westbrook as highly as the Lakers did this past summer.

The Lakers are clearly trying to get in on just about anyone on the trade market, as they’ve been connected to Ben Simmons and Jerami Grant recently, despite not having much of anything that would seem to entice either the Sixers or Pistons in trade talks. It certainly seems like the Lakers front office is just going to keep calling teams without much to offer and hope someone just so happens to be in love with the idea they can turn THT into a star or believes Westbrook is their missing piece, but the latter, in particular, seems more like an internal dream of the Lakers than anything that will ever gain much traction.

With the worldwide release of Spider-Man: No Way Home just a few days away, the film’s stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jacob Batalon all stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to chat it up with the host before Monday night’s massive Hollywood premiere. Holland also participated in the Kimmel staple where celebrities read mean tweets about themselves on camera, but the young Marvel star had a pretty quick comeback to the insult hurled at him.

“Well, Tom Holland is an absolute wanker,” the tweet said to which Holland responded, “and also Spider-Man.” The Kimmel crowd loved it, and it added a little mustard to Holland’s rebuttal that he was actually wearing the Spider-Man costume.

Later, the No Way Home stars mix it up with Kimmel, which Cumberbatch and Batalon admitted they haven’t seen yet. Holland and Zendaya not only have seen it, but they said they asked Marvel to play it again as soon as it was over. However, one thing the cast was all in concert about was the relief of no longer having to keep secrets. In fact, an exasperated Holland blurted out that he’s tired of telling lies, which Kimmel immediately tried to exploit by asking him which specific lies he’s tired of telling. It didn’t work, but good effort, Jimmy.

The cast also tackled the non-stop parade of fan theories and rumors, which are at an all-time high thanks to No Way Home’s multiversal shenanigans that will see Holland go toe-to-toe with characters from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spidey films, and perhaps other corners of the MCU.

Spider-Man: No Way Home opens exclusively in theaters on December 17.

Lil Uzi Vert caused quite the stir last year when he debuted his new forehead piercing. Containing a pink diamond that allegedly ran him $24 million, the implant prompted concerns about its safety, as well as hilarious memes comparing him to Avengers android Vision. After the jeweler allayed those fears, folks settled down and chalked the new accessory up to one of the avant-garde rapper’s many eccentricities. However, one instution wasn’t too excited about the addition: his insurance company.

“My insurance tried to cut me off,” he admitted on the Scuffed podcast. “They were like, ‘This kid’s trying to kill himself.’ They really were. Because we knew it was a piercing, my insurance looked at it like, ‘Okay, this kid just implanted this diamond in his head. He’s gonna die.’”

In order to keep his insurance, he said, he had to get the jeweler to explain how the accessory actually worked. “I really had to call the piercing person and show them low-key everything, like, it’s literally a piercing.” He further explained that he’d actually taken the gem out because “it was pretty heavy. It was like ripping my forehead, so I had to let it re-heal.”

Meanwhile, he nearly had to cash in any policies he had on the diamond itself recently, after nearly losing it during a stage diving incident.

The deadly weekend tornados devastated Kentucky (and several other states) with a death toll of 74 and counting in Sen. Rand Paul’s state. He got dragged for his request for federal relief after repeatedly voting against other state’s relief bills. A lot of criticism is going the way of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, too, given that six workers died at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois with employees revealing that little-to-no disaster training took place at the massive facility.

It’s not looking good overall for the Bezos look in response to the late-night Friday catastrophe. One Amazon worker (who perished) reportedly texted his girlfriend to relay how they weren’t allowed to leave the warehouse (to shelter at home), which is tragic, considering that their home didn’t see violent weather at all. And on Saturday morning, Jeff Bezos continued his quest to be king of space. He did not cancel his latest Blue Origin joyride, and in fact, he popped onto ABC News to talk about throwing a football around in space, so it will go “straight to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

The social media response to this ABC News tweet was a telling one, and even Newsmax’s Greg Kelly called out the billionaire retailer for feeding his space-junkie tendencies in the midst of a tragedy. Via Mediaite:

“Amazon, the company had a major warehouse that was destroyed in all of this,” said the Newsmax host, while noting six employees died. “And here’s something that is really, really infuriating… the next day, went ahead with that stupid stunt, glorified bottle rocket, roller coaster, slingshot into space.”

He added, “[H]e lost six of his employees – the people who made him rich – and here’s Michael Strahan who went up for who knows what reason, coming back, hugging Jeff and his girlfriend, a ridiculous display.”

Meanwhile, Kelly was not alone in his sentiments. Regardless of political affiliation, a whole lot of people weren’t thrilled about Bezos declining to pause space business as usual. In response to Bezos’ “thoughts and prayers’ tweet on the subject (made hours after his space launch), people pushed back.

Bezos also reportedly threw a Saturday night party following his space launch. Yikes.

(Via Mediaite)

The wait for Cardi B’s second album has been a long one, as Invasion Of Privacy dropped all the way back in 2018. The pandemic has resulted in numerous delays, but now, Cardi says she intends to release her long-awaited album in 2022.

In a 14-minute video Cardi shared on Instagram yesterday, she updates her fans on a few things, like how busy her life has been lately. Part of that is thanks to working on her new album to have it ready for next year, as she said, “Everything be looking so glamorous when you see my f*cking Instagram and everything, but it’s been really… it’s been a lot. It’s been a lot trying to balance out my new motherf*cking life. I got two kids, my daughter’s going to school now, and I have, like, a lot of jobs now. I’m in a lot of positions and that requires a lot of my time, and on top of that, I gotta put out this album next year. Not only do I gotta put out an album, but I gotta record a movie, I gotta do so much sh*t, y’all.”

Despite not having a new LP in a while, Cardi has done a terrific job at remaining present and relevant, as she had a No. 1 single this year with “Up” and another in 2020 with “WAP.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As if any more proof was needed that “cancel culture” isn’t real, DaBaby made his return to the Rolling Loud stage this past weekend at Rolling Loud California in San Bernardino. However, it wasn’t quite the triumphant comeback he and the festival’s organizers had perhaps envisioned. It seems that despite being welcomed back by the event’s producers with open arms, DaBaby wasn’t the fan favorite he’d been in previous years.

Fan videos posted to social media apparently captured the less-the-positive reception DaBaby received when his set was time was changed at the last minute on Sunday. Although he’d been scheduled to hit the Power 106 stage at 10:30, for some reason, he was moved to the Ciroc stage, where Future was billed to headline (Future apparently went on later). Whether it was his last-minute appearance that set them off — fans are notoriously fickle, as Drake learned at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival in LA two years ago — or a reaction to the comments he made at his prior Rolling Loud appearance in Miami that got him in hot water, to begin with, is anyone’s guess.

However, you can clearly see bottles flying at the Charlotte rapper from the audience. While it isn’t the worst thing fans have thrown at him, it’s clear he isn’t held in as much esteem by rap fans — although, as he points out in the video, he’s still far from being “canceled.”

Donald Trump Jr. was among those who reached out to former chief of staff and “f*cking stupid” book author Mark Meadows on January 6th to urge the former president to condemn the deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol.

“He’s got to condemn this sh*t ASAP,” Trump Jr. wrote about his dad in texts read aloud by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) during a committee meeting on Monday. “The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.” (He’s referring to Trump tweeting, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!” a not even half-hearted attempt to stop the violence.) Later, Trump Jr. sent another text to Meadows (as did multiple Fox News hosts), writing, “We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”

Mary Trump, the most (only?) member of the family that’s been publicly critical of Donald, was asked by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell why DTJ texted Meadows instead of reaching out to his dad directly. “I wish that the answer you had given was the right one ― caller ID,” she joked. “But in this particular instance, it’s simply cowardice, because Donny knew that the message he was delivering was the message his father did not want to hear.” Trump added, “The question I have is how much was Mark Meadows pushing hard to get the truth to Donald and my guess is not very hard at all.”

Maybe he just didn’t want to accidentally send his dad a d*ck pic.

You can watch the interview above.

(Via the Huffington Post)

On Monday morning, Howard Stern joined the chorus of people who lauded Chris Wallace for finally leaving Fox News, but naturally, the shock jock made sure to add his blunt assessment of Wallace’s next career move. The veteran anchor who’s often been praised for being a voice of reason over at Fox News has accepted a position at CNN+. While Stern has often wondered how Wallace “put up with this sh*t” at his old job, he’s even more puzzled by his move to CNN’s streaming service.

Via Mediaite:

“I gotta tell ya,” Stern said. “People don’t watch CNN, who the hell is going to pay for CNN+? Are they out of their mind? CNN+, I mean what is that? Regular CNN isn’t enough?”

Stern said he won’t pay for CNN+ and doesn’t expect others to either. “Good luck being seen on that thing,” Stern said. “I mean I like Chris Wallace, but I’m not paying a monthly service fee.”

After ribbing Wallace for jumping to CNN, who Stern is certain offered him the “dough re mi,” the radio giant floated another possible reason for Wallace’s departure, and it was pure Stern.

“Maybe he said to himself, ‘They just had Jeffrey Toobin jerking off on a zoom meeting, and they didn’t really fire him, so that’s probably a good place to work. You can jerk off on your zoom and not get fired,’” Stern said. “I think he saw an opportunity.”

(Via Mediaite)

Recently, Billie Eilish shared a video for her Happier Than Ever standout “Male Fantasy,” and even more recently, she performed the song on Saturday Night Live. The song sees Eilish talking openly and honestly about pornography, and she did more of that on yesterday’s episode of The Howard Stern Show. On the program, she revealed that she thinks porn is “a disgrace,” that she started watching it when she was 11 years old, and that she believes it was damaging to her.

Eilish said (at about an hour and 7 minutes into the conversation):

“As a woman, I think porn is a disgrace, and I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was like 11. I didn’t understand why it was a bad thing. I thought that’s how you learned how to have sex. […] I used to be the person that would talk about porn all the time. I’d be like, ‘Oh, it’s so stupid that anybody would think that porn is bad or f*cked up,’ you know, ‘I think it’s so cool and it’s great and it’s empowering.’ […] I was an advocate and I thought I was ‘one of the guys’ and would talk about it and think I was really cool for not having a problem with it and not seeing why it was bad and… you know. I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”

She went on to discuss how watching “violent” porn led to problems when she became sexually active:

“I think that I had sleep paralysis and these night terrors slash nightmares because of it. I think that’s how it started because I would just watch abusive BDSM and that’s what I thought was attractive. It got to a point where I couldn’t watch anything else unless it was violent. I didn’t think it was attractive. And I was a virgin, I had never done anything, and it led to problems. The first few times I, you know, had sex, I was not saying no to things that were not good. It’s because I thought that that’s what I was supposed to be attracted to. I’m so angry that porn is so loved, and I’m so angry at myself for thinking that it was OK. The way that vaginas look in porn is f*cking crazy. No vaginas look like that. Women’s bodies don’t look like that. We don’t come like that. […] It’s how so many people think they’re supposed to learn.”

Meanwhile, she also revealed on the show that she had COVID-19 this summer and that she thinks being vaccinated prevented the situation from being a lot worse than it could have been.